The NCBA’s Labor & Employment Law Section is proud to introduce the first episode of our new podcast “Works for Me.” It couldn’t have happened without the encouragement and unflagging support of Julianne Dambro, now the NCBA Director of Communities, Ann Anderson, the chair of our Section during 2017-18, Amber Nimocks, NCBA Digital Media Manager, and many other skilled and patient people with the NCBA.

I wondered, a few years ago, why our Section hadn’t developed a podcast about employment law for the benefit of the public and attorneys who don’t practice in the field. Those of us who know the practice area know that it’s an engaging and ceaselessly evolving subject that, perhaps more than most, touches almost everyone, whether as an employer or employee. Many people wonder about how the law of the workplace actually, well, works. Podcasts provide a convenient and entertaining way to teach subjects that, whether because complex, arcane, or both, can become flat-out dull if presented in the wrong way. A podcast devoted to a captivating subject drawn from an inexhaustible supply of material, with what seemed to be a ready and wide audience, looked like a sure bet. I can’t say that no similar podcasts existed, but the space was hardly saturated. So why hadn’t our Section created one?

Now I know.

Twain said that “It usually takes me more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.” One could say the same of a podcast. Nothing about it, if you want it to be any good, is extemporaneous.

The content must be identified, developed and polished. The presenters must write, coordinate and prepare. The technicians must help the presenters sound minimally competent (a challenging task if the presenters, as in our case, are neophytes), package the content for publication (with enough production values so that it doesn’t sound like the work of dilettantes) and publish it. None of that happens without persistent and time-consuming work. With that said, our first ship has sailed, staffed by Nina Pirrotti of Garrison, Levin-Epstein, Fitzgerald & Pirrotti in Wilmington; my partner Will Oden of Ward and Smith, and me.

Our goals for Season One of the podcast are modest. We hope, first, to develop topical material that will inform and entertain; second, to present voices and perspectives that are as rich and diverse as today’s workplace; and third, to generate enough “buzz” about the podcast to create and maintain an audience that will listen to and come to rely on it as a source of insight about workplace law that they can’t readily find elsewhere. OK, maybe not that modest. So, to accomplish all that, we’ll need your help. Please tune in and let us know what you think. My email address is gbo@wardandsmith.com. Bill Nye says – accurately – that “Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don’t.” So please let us hear from you.

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